


Finally Free

by lamuexte



Series: ZNT2 Week [3]
Category: Free!, 残響のテロル | Zankyou no Terror | Terror in Resonance
Genre: AU, Free! AU, It's really short but ehhh, M/M, Minor Mentions of Death, ZNT2 Week, ZNT2A, last day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 07:25:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7499316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lamuexte/pseuds/lamuexte
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twelve and Nine were always secretly dark versions of Nagisa and Rei. But what if we switched it around?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finally Free

**Author's Note:**

> Yes Twelve and Nine are babu swimmers. I had to c'mon. It may be a bit shitty cause I rushed it but, I like it. Hope you do too. :)

“It doesn’t take that long to pick out a good swimsuit Arata,” piped the brunet, holding out his own pair of red jammers and matching red goggles. “We’ll never be able to practice if you don’t pick one.”

The boy across from him let out a huff of breath, looking down at the suits with a scrutinizing glare. “I don’t see the difference in these two,” he muttered, picking them both out and holding them up to the light. “Which one should I try Toji?” The brunet hummed, pointing at each one as he thought.

“The left one,” he smiled. “The material looks more high quality.” Arata nodded, putting the other one back and heading over to the dressing rooms. “Do you like mine!?,” Toji beamed, showing him the jammer he had picked out for himself. His friend just smiled and nodded in approval. 

The shorter boy chuckled, tucking the jammer back under his arm before pushing (more like shoving) Arata into the nearest dressing room. “I wanna see you in that suit,” he grinned. Within moments the boy in questioning stepped out, a small smile on his face. It was dark blue and went all the way down to his ankles. He loved it.

“You obviously like that thing,” Toji grinned. “Let’s buy it and head out!” Arata actually began to laugh, heading back into the room to change back into his clothes. “Lisa just texted me,” he suddenly said, voice muffled through the door. “She said Mr. Shibazaki is waiting for us.”

He nearly snorted as Arata burst out of the room, eyes wild and swimsuit in his hands. “Let’s go,” he said, grabbing Toji’s hand and practically running to the cash register. Mr. Shibazaki was known for his short temper, and it wouldn’t be good if they were overly late to practice.

“I told you we should’ve gone on the weekend,” the brunet whined, pouting as a woman rang them up at her register. “Life isn’t all about studying on finals that are months away.” A huff from the taller boy caused Toji to roll his eyes. 

Soon, the woman was smiling and waving them off as the two boys scampered away, finding the exit and running out into the stuffy, hot air. Toji smirked. While Arata was still in his school uniform, he had decided to change into clothes made for the warmer weather when they were trying on suits. The shorts made it a lot easier to run.

Speaking of running, both boys had fallen into a steady jog as they made their way back to the school. Both had shoved their suits and goggles into their backpacks, Toji’s charms tinkling with each step. 

“Gonna practice your butterfly?,” he huffed between breaths, wiping some sweat from his forehead as they turned a corner. Arata chuckled and nodded (he wasn’t affected by the running at all). 

“Of course,” he murmured. There was a small smile on his face as he spoke. “I just hope that Lisa will be serious about practice for once and stick with our regimen. It’s frustrating when she decides to do a lap of freestyle just as I dive into the exact same lane.”

Both boys snickered, Toji snorting even, and they found themselves within eyesight of the school. “Hey Arata,” the brunet chirped. The slight turn of his face and the flash of his glasses in the sun told Toji that he was listening. 

“I was thinking that we could stop by to grab some ramen before going home!” Arata just groaned, pushing himself to run faster in order to stay in front of his giggling friend. “Hey wait up silly,” he chortled, trying to catch up with a dazed grin on his face. 

Once they reached the school, Arata stopped running and fell into a rushed walk. Toji was cursing under his breath as he wheezed. “I don’t know how you’re such a good swimmer when you can’t even run a mile,” the taller boy mused, causing an angry glare to get shot his way.

Toji felt happy on the inside however. Arata seemed to be in a good mood for once. He was usually quiet and reserved, leaving the smaller boy to basically talk to himself half the time. An evil smile curled its way onto his face as he nudged his friend.

“It’s cause we finally have a backstroker on the team huh?,” he smirked, speaking his thoughts aloud. “What, do you think she’s pretty or something? Is that why you keep smiling all the time?”

Arata let out an offended gasp (it was more like a choke though) and Toji just smiled, eyes squeezed shut in pure innocence. “I’m not,” he grumbled. “I’m just glad that the board actually let us participate in a real competition.”

Ah. Right. Since they had both boys and girls on the team, it had always been tricky to get into an all boys competition. After a lot of convincing and compromising, Mr. Shibazaki had managed to get them all a place in the preliminaries. 

“We’ll show them who’s the best team around,” Toji beamed, cute smile overshadowed by the determination and seriousness in his hazel eyes. “Even the orphanage kids. We’ll show them that they can do anything they set their mind to, right Arata?” There was just the soft sound of footsteps as they finally made it to the pool.

Arata let out a soft “mmh” of agreement, causing Toji’s smile to fumble. He’d probably hit a nerve by mentioning the others they lived with (they did still live in an orphanage after all, but they were planning to move out soon), but it was the honest truth. 

“There you two are!,” gasped a voice, a small girl with black hair running up to them. She was already in her swimsuit, cap and goggles tucked under one of the straps. “We were about to start practice without you.” She pointed over to Chiyo, who was busy tucking her white hair into a tight black cap. 

“We’re really sorry,” Toji giggled. “I never thought Arata would have trouble finding a stylish enough swimsuit.” He winked over at his friend, who blushed in embarrassment as his shorter friend skipped off to the locker rooms. 

A splash echoed throughout the area - Chiyo had doven in and began to do her warm ups. “Mr. Shibazaki is out smoking a cigarette,” Lisa added. “You should get in the pool before he gets back.” Arata nodded, heading off to the locker rooms himself. Toji was already running out of them, curls peeking out under his cap. 

He shook his head, sighing as he wandered in and set his bag down. There was a loud outcry from outside - _“Toji you have to stop pushing Lisa into the pool all the time!”._ Arata took off his glasses and put them in his backpack, rubbing his eyes tiredly. 

It was a long practice. Not in the time sense, but the feeling of it was just long. Arata felt the happiness and perkiness of earlier fading away as he began to swim, trying to focus on how the water parted around him. Mr. Shibazaki kept mentioning how sloppy his strokes were, and lectured him on getting more sleep and eating well.

Arata knew those things of course. At one point he just sat on the edge of the pool, the sun burning his skin but he didn’t care. He watched as the other swam. Really, just how Toji swam. 

It amazed him how beautifully smooth breaststroke could be. There were only a few swimmers that could move that smoothly, the water barely moving as he seemed to glide through the pool with complete ease. It left Arata speechless. He wasn’t known to be a speechless boy.

Mr. Shibazaki had left to go smoke another cigarette, and Toji giggled as he did flips over a laneline. He stopped at one point, floating on his back and taking a glance back at Arata. “You should practiceeeeeee,” he groaned, slipping under the water and swimming towards his friend. 

“I’m tired,” the black-haired boy admitted. His stomach growled. Guess he was hungry too. There was a strange feeling on his leg, and he seized up before glancing down. 

Toji was gently holding onto his leg with both arms, floating in the water and peering up at him through red goggles. “Did you have that weird nightmare again?,” he asked. “The one with the building falling and me dying and all that.”

Arata winced as Toji hit it head on. He nodded reluctantly, and Toji sighed. “Arata… I’ve told you many times already: if you had a nightmare and you’re having trouble sleeping, you can always wake me up. Okay?” The taller boy just nodded again, eyes blank.

The nightmare was always the same. For some reason, he and his friend were masterminds of the city. They had everything controlled in their palms, but it always ended the same. Toji always ended up dead on the ground, and Arata would wake up sobbing. 

But here stood (floated, really) the boy himself, a warm smile on his face as he reassured Arata that he’d be fine. There was a tug at his heart, and butterflies in his stomach. 

“You sound hungry too,” Toji giggled, causing Arata to perk up. “I guess stopping by the new ramen place isn’t such a bad idea now, huh?” Arata let a small smile curl up on his lips.

“Sure,” he nodded, pushing himself off the wall and into the water. Toji abruptly let go from the sudden movement, and swam back with wide eyes. “Now, what happened to us practicing?” A smirk. Toji smiled. His friend had mood swings of course, depressed one second and happy the next. He loved it. 

He swam off down the lane, bubbles popping up from laughing under the water. Arata really was impossible sometimes. 

They went to eat ramen after practice, legs sore as they reeked of chlorine. They took turns trying bits of each others meals, laughing and talking the rest of the afternoon away. They didn’t get back to the orphanage until after dark, causing the woman in charge to lightly scold them.

After countless repetitions of Toji trying to convince Arata to sleep in the same bed as him (while they brushed their teeth, after they showered, while they read magazines to lull themselves to sleep), the taller boy finally agreed.

There were no nightmares that night.


End file.
